Information about Medical Specialization in the Netherlands

Hello everyone, my name is Alex and I'm an
Italian medical student who is thinking about doing his medical
residency in the Netherlands in future. I apologize if I use English
instead Dutch, for the moment I do not know it well enough, even though
I'm aware that it's essential for doing the specialization in your
Country.

I would be very grateful if I could receive some information
about the process to get a place there. I read some stuff, but
unfortunately I did not understand if there is a National competition
or if I have to contact directly the different hospitals/universities
for the job/training.

When does the specialization start? And, more
important, when a person must send his/her application in order to get
a place? For example in the UK you have to prepare all since the year
before the graduation, is that similar in the Netherlands? In Italy the
date of graduation is usually in July.

I have seen quite often that,
for some countries, there is the following problem: The course starts
in August September, but in Italy the graduation is in July, therefore
there is no sufficient time to send all the documents in time to
receive the license from the other country in time, then the only
solution is to wait (and often lose) one year.

Finally, is it
possible in the Netherlands to do the residency with a lot of time
spending in research? Or, also better, to do a PhD in the same time,
maybe doing the specialization in a university Hospital?
Thank you very much for your attention, I hope not to have
bored you with so many questions.

Alex